"My dear brothers. I keep on saying the same thing, because it always is the same thing. Had you followed that saint instead of applauding, Europe would never have known the Reformation, nor the religious wars, nor this horrible Spanish Crusade. Saint Francis was calling to you, but death did not pick and choose: death descended on us all. The danger is the same today."
Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. As Greg Glenn reminded me, in the post to which I link, today also marks the death of much maligned, but very courageous and, to my mind, even saintly, Pope Paul VI. Rest in peace Papa Montini! Sadly, we also mark the dropping of the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger died yesterday. Many of you may not know who he is. I cannot imagine a more fitting tribute than that written by George Weigel over on the Observations and Contentions, the First Things blog. Marking these three events (i.e., the deaths of Paul VI and Cardinal Lustiger and the dropping of the first atomic bomb) should give us all pause to consider the words of the Qoheleth and our Lord from yesterday.